Note: Dear Neurodiversity advocates. How do you spin this as a gift? Autism will piss off America just as all of us parents are growing older and planning on how the hell we leave our precious children behind as autistic adults. THIS is what ignoring and sugarcoating and epidemic will do to a nation. And it was entirely avoidable if we have been allowed to seek an actual CURE for autism without being told we were crazy people. If researchers didn't have to fear for their careers and so they chose to focus on eye gaze studies until our eyes glazed over. If epidemiologists and psychiatrists hadn't commandeered funding and studies. If pharma hadn't become the greediest most ruthless industry since... forever, denying that vaccine injury causes autism. If the media had any cojones at all and didn't bend over for advertisers and produce propaganda in fictional and news programming. If President Obama hadn't been fooled by the Neurodiversity movement. If President Trump doesn't start remembering his promises to the community. Ready for the bill, America? You won't be able to pay for the electricity to run those stupid blue lightbulbs when it comes. Open your wallet - you should have opened your eyes and hearts. Kim

UC Davis health economists have for the first time projected the total costs of caring for all people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the U.S. for the current calendar year and in 10 years if effective interventions and preventive treatments for the condition are not identified and widely available.

Their forecasts for ASD-related medical, nonmedical and productivity losses are $268 billion for 2015 and $461 billion for 2025. The researchers noted that these estimates are conservative and, if ASD prevalence continues to increase as it has in recent years, the costs could reach $1 trillion by 2025.

The study is published online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

“The current costs of ASD are more than double the combined costs of stroke and hypertension and on a par with the costs of diabetes,” said study senior author Paul Leigh, professor of public health sciences and researcher with the Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at UC Davis. “There should be at least as much public, research and government attention to finding the causes and best treatments for ASD as there is for these other major diseases.”

Leigh hopes his findings inspire policy changes that emphasize early intervention to reduce ASD symptoms, along with employment and other programs that support the independence of adults with the disorder.

Leigh worked with co-author Juan Du, who received her doctoral degree at UC Davis, to determine the per-person and then total costs of ASD using data on medical services, residential care, special education, in-home care, transportation, employment support and lost productivity. Their information came from a variety of sources, including research literature, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The evaluations included cost ranges that accounted for age, because services for people with ASD change throughout their lifespans, and the presence or lack of intellectual disability (formerly called “mental retardation”), which affects the intensity of services, along with varied estimates of population changes and ASD prevalence.

The team found that the comprehensive costs of ASD will range from $162 to $367 billion for 2015 (with the researchers’ best estimate of $268 billion) and from $276 to $1 trillion (with the researchers’ best estimate of $461 billion) for 2025. The 2015 figures are on a par with recent cost estimates for diabetes and exceed the combined costs of stroke and hypertension. If the prevalence of ASD continues to grow as it has in recent years, the costs likely will far exceed those of diabetes by 2025. Read more here, if you have the stomach.

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I 100% agree with you. There is far too much corruption and passing the buck occurring when it comes to our children's health, even under Trump now. That is why I mentioned a deep state. There is bribery, blackmail and good old fashioned 'just needing to make a living ' to account for all this. I am still hopeful it will get unravelled. But we have to fight.

@for senta - "Milo Yiannopoloulis recently lamented the apathy of the people in being steam-rolled by the leftist agenda. Or is it more of a deep state agenda. In any case things are not right, least of all for our children."

Just asking...what is the right doing for our children? Trump appointed pro-vax individuals to HHS (twice! - Tom Price and Pharma Exec Alex Azar), FDA (Scott Gottlieb), and CDC (Brenda Fitzgerald. The Government Oversight Committee, chaired by and majority Republican has held no hearings on autism and vaccines. Congressman (Republican) Bill Posey has done nothing with the whistleblower documents in years (and now it seems almost everyone but us has forgotten about William Thompson). Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia foreclosed legal options for vax-injured children with the Bruesewitz v. Wyeth decision. Justice Neil Gorsuch ruled against a family with autism when he sat on the Court of Appeals. Have you seen Fox news say anything negative about vaccines lately? Are they calling for any sort of investigation, study, etc.? Republicans control the Presidency, the Senate and House, and enjoy a majority on the Supreme Court. Don't see much rollback of vaccine mandates in red state legislatures; Republicans control both houses of state legislature in 32 states.

I'm not saying Democrats are blameless by any means...but it does seem the party in power should be held accountable for what they are not doing.

Good intro Kim! Yes we need to get tougher. No time for cowards as senta said. There should be a huge March in Washington.
Milo Yiannopoloulis recently lamented the apathy of the people in being steam-rolled by the leftist agenda. Or is it more of a deep state agenda. In any case things are not right, least of all for our children.

Why should anything linked to the UC system make any attempt to curtail or stop Autism ( in my opinion) when they are the ones who created or patented the Hepatitis B vaccine? That vaccine given to infants, children, and newborns is the very shot that began The Autism Epidemic and they make untold millions of dollars on it. That vaccine was intended for adults and prostitutes. Once the US government took away our RIGHTS to ever sue a vaccine maker in regular courts, and vaccine makers were given 0 Liability, that vaccine was added to the childhood schedule and for PROFIT. Hepatitis B is only contracted if the infant is having Unprotected sex, sharing IV drug needles (Transfusion if ill) or if the mom has it and does not get it treated. Infants, and little children do not share needles or have sex. This experiment was supposedly to find out IF perhaps in 30 years Hepatitis B might go away??? One of the effects is a tremendous increase in Brain Encephalitis aka AUTISM! Try to google THE LATIMES article bragging about the money that is being made by this vaccine from 2015.http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-uc-patents-20151011-story.html.
The UC system has departments that claim to help kids and families with Autism without going after the hefty vaccine damages that they profit from?? UC is using a Divide and Conquer like approach. Rarely according to some, does the Psychology section know about the science section and so on; by design.

We can't fix anything until we go back to when Autism was a separate and very distinctive diagnosis'. The Neurodiverse should not be speaking for my low functioning/non verbal 17 year old son, my son's disorder is not a gift, but because of the vast criteria change for autism DSM-V they somehow are.
This, in my opinion is what should be lobbied for immediately so that we can get back to the proper research and a cure for our kids.

Little more than year ago following a report that he had spoken against a Vaccine Commission, the research director of MIND appeared in these columns:-

"David Amaral, Ph.D.
"Dear Anne,

"The beauty of science is that you are taken where the evidence leads you. The MacNeil interview was carried out early in 2011 and at that time I thought that there was some chance that postnatal factors might lead to some cases of autism - particularly in children that had a genetic or other medical predisposing condition. But, our own research has argued against this view. Later in 2011, we published a paper about brain changes in children with and without regression (Nordahl et al 2011). We found that it was the children with evidence of regression that generally had enlarged brains. We also found that head enlargement started at 4-6 months of life - long before the behavioral regression.

Perhaps what most strikes one is the almost whimsical nature of these comments - superior, ungrounded, the same attitude that one detected in the manner of Tom Insel, as if to to pretend that everyone else is stupid. MIND have produced a few worthwhile papers showing that the rise in autism was not real and could not be attributed to genes. Even this paper is somewhat helpful in its appalling way. On the other hand Amaral's comment based on the Nordahl paper bordered on the unhinged: there was zero detectable reasoning. Why did he come out with this non-reason if he had a better one? And what about all this ivory tower stuff about "the beauty of science". How are ordinary people with brain damaged children supposed to feel about "the beauty of science" as he struts around being important?

And as the costs approach a trillion dollars a year he still can't tell you what causes autism.

I must have been sleeping and missed it. And I'm only sleeping because we've been actively trying to cure our kids' autism for 12 years. Kids sleep so we sleep-- without drugs. Recovery is a very expensive process and not covered.

Some thoughts...I am blown away by the costs of the epidemic. Although why should I be surprised - my husband and I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on our son to date (he is now 28) - autism really is a financial black hole.

Early intervention is good, and helpful. But how often is it a cure? Or even (as some prefer) a recovery? I don't know exactly what the recovery rate from autism is but I suspect it's under 10%. I don't personally know any child who has recovered from severe autism especially. From what I've read and observed, over 2/3 of those on the spectrum will need lifelong care and support.

Our kids need more than early intervention. No one ever talks about middle intervention or late intervention. How about some research on effective treatment and therapy for tweens, adolescents, and adults? And how about more money for supports and services, so young adults don't essentially get abandoned at age 21?

Laura Hayes' comment should accompany all shares of this article. She is 100% RIGHT ON.

The absolute MADNESS of ignoring the cause of the autism epidemic - to the point of refusing to call it an epidemic, then calling for more money to combat it? There is only so much absurdity from the Medical Mafia that society will tolerate. And I am pretty sure we are at our breaking point. The rest of society may not care about our precious children who were harmed, but they will scream bloody murder when the cost associated with their injuries bankrupt our economy. THEN they will care.

And a special note to the MIND: You SUCK a$$. You more than most had a specific charge to help our kids. And you not only failed, you poured gas on the fire. Now go back to your gaze analysis studies. You are dead to me.

I did not read more. No, I don't have the stomach. Yes, the tears run down my face again. I have never worked so hard and prayed so hard trying to recover my son who is 22 now and in need of careful care the rest of his life. I am helping my two daughters through their ambitious college Journeys financially. They will certainly never take their splendid college Journeys for granted. My oldest daughter loves her brother dearly. She does wonder how she will one day shoulder the tremendous responsibility that is taking two parents all their time working opposite shifts to perform.
Yes, we parents are roommates. Our relationship took a back seat to our heart breaking struggle with our wonderful boy. Our daughters live at college downtown in Detroit on their own away from the crucible that has been our house. They need some time to become adults on their own. However, they certainly never got parenting help from us. And no these daughters will not ever, ever have children. I remember them telling me this clearly as young girls. They said,"We love people and the world, but this does not extend to taking on that rollercoaster of heart break of being called Mom and having a husband." They fully understand that to some people nonfamily are just objects to make money off of. They will do anything to save their darling little never to be born children from this kind of extortion.

While I welcome this report as a clarion call, it nevertheless grossly underestimates the real costs of the autism epidemic. It only considers the social costs of autism -- that is, the costs incurred by government agencies and the larger society. It doesn't seem to consider the costs incurred by autism families -- for instance, the earnings lost when moms (and it usually is the moms) who quit their jobs to care for their children.

But it also doesn't consider that the greatest costs of the autism epidemic will be borne by autistic people themselves. They will pay for it in many ways. They will ensure the pain and suffering of gastrointestinal distress and seizures. Many of them will die prematurely. Most will be unemployable or employed at poverty-level wages. One-third of them will be deprived of the ability to speak, and many others will be speech-impaired. Many will be effectively denied the joys of finding a lifetime partner in marriage, and most will be incapable of raising children. Most will find it very difficult to negotiate the details of everyday living, many will not be able to live independently, and many (even today ) will be institutionalized. If autism had not been inflicted on these individuals against their will, they might have written books, made scientific discoveries, served their country in the military, created charitable organizations, or achieved great things in the arts. In reality, a few (like Temple Grandin) may heroically overcome their disabilities and make real contributions to society, but most of those contributions will be lost.

This report doesn't calculate those losses, though for an entirely understandable reason: they are incalculable.

And few now bring up William Thompson, who almost 4 years ago turned over evidence to Congress that the CDC thought they destroyed over a decade before. No acknowledgment, no hearings, nothing done about fraud that covered up the cause of autism.

I was just waiting for a comment from someone at The MIND Institute at UC Davis, and there it was, at the end:

“The staggering costs identified in this study should serve as a call to action,” said Leonard Abbeduto, director of the UC Davis MIND Institute, an internationally recognized autism treatment and research center.

“We need more funding for research to understand the causes of, and develop treatments for, ASD,” Abbeduto added. “We also need to ensure that all children have access to intensive early intervention; that school-based interventions to support academics, as well as social and language skills, are adequately funded; and that supports are put in place to ensure better post-secondary and vocational options for adults. Investing in these areas, I believe, will actually reduce the costs to society.”

Leonard, the call to action came 2 decades ago, and you and your colleagues at MIND have failed to answer it. And you don’t need more money thrown at MIND, as you have squandered what you have been given to date and should no longer be entrusted with any further money, or with the original charge given to MIND, to find the cause of and cure for Autism. You’ve had your chance, and you have failed miserably. You and the others at MIND should be fired, immediately. Additionally, the doors of MIND should be closed, permanently.

My husband and I are one of the founding families of MIND Institute, which has been not only a HUGE disappointment, but which has aided and abetted the ever-increasing Autism Epidemic. MIND has wasted 2 decades of precious time, in addition to millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars that could have been used to stop this epidemic in its tracks, while permitting millions more innocent children and families to be devastated by an “autism” diagnosis as they steadfastly refuse to address the elephant in the room...vaccines. One must ask why MIND hasn’t been shut down in light of its abject failure to fulfill its original charge, to find the cause of and cure for Autism.

MIND is thriving thanks to the burgeoning epidemics of “Autism” and other vaccine-and-toxin-induced epidemics of childhood, which are of recent origin. Their jobs are quite secure, as is their funding, which is readily supplied by vaccine injury denialists. They are most likely celebrating this new study by their colleagues at UC Davis, because many of those billions and trillions of dollars will be flowing into their coffers.

MIND should be shut down, as should any other NIH-funded Autism “Center of Excellence” (gagging as I type) that has nothing to show for itself other than an increase in “Autism” and other new and tragic childhood disorders. Great shame on the whole lot of them.

All the money poured into early intervention and all the nothing they do in public schools and county family service departments has strings attached. They give it with the understanding that what they do with it will fix the problem and make the autistic productive, tax-paying citizens. I'm running into that now. The county family service department has strongly urged me every time I've asked them about it for advice that I NOT request guardianship for my daughter, who's turning 18 in May. The school seeks every means of writing that her speech is normal in and out of class (when she can really only say the most basic, short sentences, thanks to my ESL work). They keep writing on all the forms that she WILL be able to maintain full-time employment. The school speech therapist told me when I asked for school support in practicing the structures we're working on at home that the school only has the obligation to make sure the autistic can say "I want...," and "I need," ... And that they can't do anything which is not backed up by "expert" consensus, which is controlled by the medical and pharma industries.

My lawyer said the other day that I HAVE to apply for guardianship, since there's no way that she could care for herself independently. Although maybe that's to get money on HER end. A third-party revocable trust and a court hearing for guardianship. And it's going to be a NIGHTMARE to apply for SSI, SNAP food stamps, and Medicaid, which all have many, many confusing restrictions and attempts to charge you with fraud at every step.

Maybe AoA could run a series with advice on how to do all this for autistic teens when they turn 18? The lawyer didn't know that you really have to charge your young adult for rent if they continue living in your home, to keep from having your SSI cut back.

"Supposing the authors don’t know what is causing autism why insn’t an imperative to find out - rather than “early intervention”.

As I commented earlier .. this study adds "economics" .. a TRILLION dollars in 2025 .. as a PRIORITY reason to identify what has "caused" .. and .. "continues to cause" .. the autism epidemic that has made "early intervention" an accepted "normal solution" for hundreds of thousands of families.

In my opinion .. the FIRST PRIORITY of a Commission to investigate the "safety and efficiency" of vaccines would be to conduct a scientific, independent study of vaccinated v unvaccinated populations .. which should provide clear and convincing evidence which population has better health throughout their lives ..

Imagine if THAT study proved .. beyond all doubt .. the unvaccinated population is far less "COSTLY" to government .. throughout their lives?

We know from some recent book by celebrated authors that children with autism used to be institutionalized by their families and disowned. We just think there's been an increase in autism because parents no longer do that.

I hope the UC Davis team took this important fact into account when figuring out the real increase in cost ;)

I am so tired of the "early intervention" mantra. Yes, that can help...but it does not take away autism, rather, it may just move the person somewhat up the spectrum scale. The bigger issue is that services fall off the cliff once the person leaves school. At that point, far too many end up sitting alone in their rooms in their parents' home because of lack of options. If we, as a society, invest in 'early intervention' to help bring them along...then why turn off services on the day they leave school? That just means regression and social isolation. Nonprofits, mostly formed by parents, try to help, but with a far more limited funding base, it is difficult to provide the scale needed to help so many.

I knew Kim from Cleveland ( I am still here). Keep telling it like it is.
Anyone with a pencil and the back of an envelope could have told us what was staring us all in the face,.... and STILL IS.
No need to cover the past, self-serving career builders from AS or wasted government money.
We need to organize to get CMS to help us build locally and fund nationally, the care of all the adults. That is the destination.
We also need to get behind one group and effectively lobby to either be able to sue Pharma and/or get the money to provide medical solutions for those suffering with autism.
I support World Mercury Project and RFK, Jr.

This was a static model of incidence which greatly over-projected the number of adults but greatly underestimated the cost of cases (discounting them by about two-thirds). The new paper is perhaps more realistic - although I have not been able to obtain copy - saying what it costs as of 2015 (which was quite similar) and how much it might cost in 2025.

It is of course obscenely stupid that governments across the world could let this happen, pretending not to know what is driving it and not doing anything about it.

Just about sums up the predicament of governments across the world who have wilfully ignored the tsunami of vaccine injuries that has happened, and will continue to happen.

The financial cost is nothing compared to the traumatic cost to families who have suffered either by the death of their child or losing who their child may have been and who are seeing their children suffer physically and emotionally every day.

"Their forecasts for ASD-related medical, nonmedical and productivity losses are $268 billion for 2015 and $461 billion for 2025. The researchers noted that these estimates are conservative and, if ASD prevalence continues to increase as it has in recent years, the costs could reach $1 trillion by 2025."

This disastrous forecast of a "$1 trillion dollar" cost for ASD-related treatments and care .. by the year 2025 .. should provide President Trump with an opportunity to move .. full speed ahead .. on his intention to create a vaccine safety commission to investigate the growing body of scientific evidence that raises serious questions regarding our aggressive vaccine policies .. as a potential "cause" for the epidemic of autism .. where 1 in 48 boys are being diagnosed everyday.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if President Trump pivots to the "economic costs" as his main reason to CREATE that commission .. charged with studying the "safety and efficiency" of vaccines .. hopefully reaching the very same conclusion as did this UC Davis study .. that being .. the "cost effectiveness" of our country protecting the "unavoidably unsafe" vaccine industry .. that may be the main CAUSE of autism .. has become a threat to our nation's economic future.